Relevance of Carcass Palpation in Lambs to Protecting Public Health

Abstract

We recently reviewed the Food Safety and Inspection Service's (FSIS's) inspection procedures for lambs. As a result, FSIS published a Federal Register notice informing the public of its intent to change from an inspection system that requires extensive carcass palpation to an inspection system that requires no carcass palpation for lambs. This decision was based on the following three points. (i) Extensive carcass palpation in lambs does not routinely aid in the detection of food safety hazards that result in meat-borne illnesses. (ii) Hands are capable of spreading or adding contamination to the carcasses. (iii) FSIS inspection systems must reflect science-based decisions as they pertain to meat-borne illnesses consistent with a Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point environment.

Inspection of lymph nodes for caseous lymphadenitis and its effect on the density of microbes on sheep carcasses

“…Manual inspection for CLA was first instigated over a century ago at a time when macroscopic abnormalities were assumed to pose a safety risk and there was little understanding of the role of hygiene in extending the shelf life of products and protecting consumers from bacterial illness (Walker et al, 2000;Webber et al, 2012). Consequently, manual palpation for CLA lesions became entrenched in the culture of "traditional meat inspection" with little concern for the impact on carcass microbiology.…”

“…In recent years there have been strident calls for meat inspection to be redirected to focus on those abnormalities that actually pose a risk to food safety (Hathaway & McKenzie, 1991;Hinton & Green, 1997;Walker et al, 2000;Webber, Dobrenov, Lloyd, & Jordan, in press). Given that CLA is not a food-safety risk per-se, intense scrutiny of every adult sheep carcass for CLA has questionable benefit from a public health viewpoint.…”

“…Infection can further disseminate to cause abscesses in the abdominal and thoracic viscera. Although C. pseudotuberculosis is not a food-borne hazard, (Walker et al, 2000) it is of major economic importance because of the cost of preventing unsightly lesions from appearing in retail products (Windsor, 2011). In Australia, the control of CLA lesions in meat from adult sheep has traditionally emphasised routine inspection of all carcasses at slaughter as part of a regulatory-backed system of meat inspection.…”

Scientific Opinion on the public health hazards to be covered by inspection of meat from farmed game

“…Although the importance of cross-contamination in farmed game is not clear, it has been considered important in other species (Walker et al, 2000). In cattle, cross-contamination of the carcasses and offals as a result of post-mortem inspection has been demonstrated (Jankuloski et al, 2009).…”

“…Palpation and/or incision of heart, lungs, liver, the umbilical region, joints and lymph nodes during the post-mortem examination could contribute to the spread of the bacterial hazards of public health importance through cross-contamination. The importance of crosscontamination in farmed game is not clear, although it has been considered important in other species (Walker et al, 2000). Current legislation foresees more detailed palpation and incision if abnormalities are detected during visual inspection.…”